Device for suspending sheet material



June 9, 1925. 1,540,930

- s. F. CUSHMAN DEVICE FOR SUSPENDING SHEET MATERIAL Filed May 28, 1921 Patented June 9, 1925.

SOLOMON F. CUSHMAN, 015 BEVERLY, MASfiACI-IUSETTS.

DEVICE FOR SUSPENDING SHEET MATERIAL.

App1ication filed May 28, 1921. Serial No. 473,332.

To all whom itmay concern:

Be it known that I, SoLoMoN F. Gosli- MAN, a citizen of the Unit-ed States, residing at Beverly, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain Improvements in Devices for Suspending Sheet Material, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like reference characters on the drawings indicating like parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to a device which may be used for suspending clothes from a line, for fastening sheet material to a stretch. iug frame for use with display racks and for various other purposes. 7

In order to promote brevity the device will be described in connection with the hanging of wet fabrics on aline, although by no means limited to this use. The ordinary clothes pin which is used in hanging clothes and similar fabric articleson a line has two serious disadvantages, first it holds a portion of the fabric in contact with the line so that if the line is at all dirty the clothes are spotted, and second it does not hold the clothes securely enough to prevent them from blowing down in a strong wind.

The object of the present invention is to overcome these and other disadvantages'of the old devices and to provide a device which will securely attach clothes to a line with out pressing any portion of them against the line and at the same time will maintain so firm a grip upon the clothes that they cannot be blown down.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings,-

Fig. 1 is a perspective showing a sheet or similar article suspended from a line by two of the devices;

Fig. 2 is a perspectiveof one of the devices with its aws in closed or gripping position;

Fig. 3 is a perspective of the same device with its jaws open;

Fig. 4 is a perspective of the parts of the device in separated relation, and

Fig. 5 is a perspective of a modified construction. Y Y I 7 Referring first to Figs. 1 to t, the device comprises a base 7 and two toggle levers 9, 11. In the simplified construction herein illustrated there are but three members, but as will presently appear, different parts of these members serve different functions, and

' rest of the toggle lever one'or more of the members may be composed of more than one part if desired. Thus the base 7 is composed of asingle piece of wire having'the general form of a loop, the closed end of the loop serving as an abutment and being herein shown as bent upwardly into a sort of hook 18, and the free ends being bent atright angles to the sides of the loop and brought into alinement to form a pivot. The toggle leverll which is generally rectangular in outline has one end bent to form an eye 17 which, in the assembled device, receives the pivot formed by the bent ends 15, portions of the other end of the member being bent to form two alined eyes 19 which, in the assembled device, reoive the pivot formed by the bent ends 21 of the toggle lever 9 presently to be described. The toggle lever 11 is also cut in two parallel lines to form a tongue 23 which has a portion in the form of a wave or re-entrant curve 25 adapted to receive a line and a protruding extremity 27, by pressing upon which the tongue may be lifted to disengage the line. This tongue, like the 11, is made of spring material and is therefore normally held yieldingly in the position shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 4:. As shown in Fig. 1, the spring tongue 23 forms a sort of clasp or clamp for the line or other support 28 and holds it firmly against the base 7 in such manner as to prevent the toggle from being broken.

The other as a piece of wire bent into a generally rectangular shape. The free ends 21 of the wire, as has been explained, are in alinement and together form the pivot which is received in the alin'ed eyes 19, this pivot being the knuckle of the toggle. At that'end of the member 9 remote from the bent ends 21, the run of wire is bent up slightly so that, when it co-operates with the hook 13, the sheet material will be firmly held.

In Fig. 3, the device is shown in open position ready to receive a piece of fabric or other sheet material. In Fig. 2 it is shown in closed position. It will be noted from an inspection of Fig. 2 that the body portion of the lever 11 is narrow enough to be received between the long runs of wire which toggle lever 9 is herein shown form the sides of the base 7, and that these runs each have a downward jog or bend 29 to permit the knuckle of the toggle to be pressed far enough downwardly to be moved just slightly past lead center, the base 7 or "said serving asla stop against further movement.

Referring now to Fig. 1, wherein is shown a portion of a sheet 31 suspended from'a clothes lineby 2t'0 of the devices, it will be noted that the line passes between the outwardly sprung tongue .or clasp 23 and the base 7 of each device, the clasp serving thus not only to grip the line securely but to prevent the toggle from being broken. Moreover, any pullupon the sheet in a direction away from the line can disengage neither the device from the line nor the sheet from the device. It will be noted too that the sheet does not come into'coutact at all with the line. TVhen the devices are to be used for hanging out wet clothes to dry, as illustrated in Fig. 1, it is contemplated that they will begalvan'ized or other wise constructed so that they may be easily cleaned without liability of rusting. Among further advantages which result from the use of .this dev'iceit may be pointed out that an inexpensive line which is not necessarily clean may be used, that the devices maybe attached to the washed fabrics in the house, and that in freezing weather the fabrics with the devices attached to them may be removed from the line and brought back into the houseto permit. the ice to thaw before the devices are the fabrics.

In Fig. 5 is shown a modified form of the device, the parts being made entirely of wire. In this form the parts 107 and 109 are or may be substantially the same as the parts 7 and 9 of the form shown in Figs. 1 to a inclusive. The toggle lever 111, however, is different in construction from the toggle lever 11. The toggle lever 111 is made of a. single piece of wire'be-nt and twisted as shown to form at one end alined eyes 117, at the other end alined eyes 119 and extending medially from end to'end a tongue 123. The operative end of this tongue is formed with a wave or reentrant curve 125 and with a bent end 127. This form of device'operates exactly as does that form shown in the other figures and has been shown merely to illustrate one of the many variations of structure which are possible without departing from the scope of the invention.

Although the invention has been set forth in connection with a particular device for hanging out washed fabric, it should be understood that the invention is not limited in the scope of its application to the particular device nor to the particular use which has been shown and described.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is: i

l. A device of the class described, comprising a base, a pair of toggle levers, one levers being pivoted tofthe base at disengaged from ber and a resilient one 'localit-y thereon and the other being adapted, when the toggles are straightened, to co-operate with another locality of the :base to grip a piece of material, and a spring-tongue connected with the firstnamed toggle and shaped to co-operate with the base in gripping a support such as a line.

2. A device of the class described, comprising ,a base, a of said levers being pivoted to the base at one locality thereon and the other being adapted, when the toggles are straightened, to co-operate with another locality of the base to grip a piece of material, and aspringtongue connected with the first-named toggle and shaped to co-operate with the base in locking the knuckle of the toggle from movement;

,3. A device of the class described, ,CODP llslll 71 base it all of toggle levers one of which is pivoted to one end of the base and the other adapted, when the toggle is straightened, to move into gripping relation with the other endof the base, and a spring clasp for attaching the device .to a support such as 'a rope, the clasp acting through .the rope to hold the knuckle of the straightened toggle against the base.

4:. A device for suspending a piece .of sheet material from a line while maintaining thematerial out ofcont-act with the line comprising a base having an abutment at, one locality thereon, a pair of toggle levers pivoted to the base-at another localitygand a line-engaging member having its effective portion located between the abutment and the pivot. 7

a 5. A device for suspending apiece .of sheet material from a line comprising a base, a pair of toggle levers one of which is pivoted to the base, there being on the base an abutment adapted when the toggle levers are straightened to cooperate with the other toggle lever to grip the material, and means for thereafter fastening the device to the line, said last-named means including a member connected with one of the toggle levers and arranged to receive the line between it andthe base and thereby to prevent the toggle from being broken.

6. A device for suspending a piece of cloth from a line comprising a pair of jaws, means for causing the jaws to grip the material firmly before the device is attached to the line, and a clamp forthereafter fastening the device to the line, said clamp being so connected'to the jaws as to prevent them from releasing the material until the clamp has been freed from the line.

7. A device for suspending a piece of sheet material from a line having in combination, a clamp comprising a rigid memmember between which is formed a flared opening the narrow porp 0f toggle levers, one '2";

tion of which is of less width than the diameter oi the line into and out of which the line may be pushed, a pair of jaws for gripping the material, and connections between the clamping members and the jaws such that the jaws are prevented from releasing the material as long as the line is between the rigid and the resilient member.

8. A device of the class described comprising a base, having an abutment, a pair of toggle levers, one of said levers being pivoted to the base at one locality thereon and the other being adapted, when the toggle levers are straightened to cooperate with the abutment to grip a piece of material, and a member having its effective portion located between the pivot and the abutment adapted to co-operate with the base to grip a support such as a line and thereby to fasten the device to the support and to prevent the toggle "from being broken.

9. A device of the class described comprising a base, a pair of toggle levers, one of said levers being pivoted to the base at one locality thereon and the other being adapted, when the toggles are straightened, to co-operate with another locality of the base to grip a piece of material, and a spring-tongue adapted to co-operate with the base in gripping a support such as a line.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

SOLOMON F. OUSHMAN. 

